Ronaldo reveals the real reason for his wedge haircut at the 2002 World Cup

Published Feb. 20, 2017 12:46 p.m. ET

Aaron West

The original Ronaldo scored eight goals on the way to Brazil lifting their fifth World Cup, but he's almost just as remembered for his absurd haircut than the ridiculous goalscoring tear he went on to help Brazil win the trophy.

Before the final, Ronaldo cut his head completely bald, leaving just a single, infuriating wedge of hair on top of his dome. It's one of the all-time worst haircuts in soccer history, and that's saying a WHOLE lot.

We've had 15 years to recover from the initial sight of it since that tournament, and Ronaldo's dropped a bombshell to rock the soccer world. We now have a definitive answer for exactly why he chose to do that to his hair, and our eyes.

And it actually makes perfect sense.

"My groin was hurting. I was only at 60 percent. So I shaved my head," Ronaldo told ESPN Brazil.

"Everybody was only talking about my injury. When I arrived in training with this haircut, everybody stopped talking about the injury."

That's just Redirection 101. Have something you don't want people to talk about? Bust out something bigger, more spectacular to divert their attention. It's not quite as good as the story that Ronaldo changed his hair because his son kept confusing him for the similarly bald Roberto Carlos, but we'll take it.

Brazil won the World Cup with a brace from none other than Ronaldo himself, so obviously his plan worked a charm. Who knew he was such a genius with the press?